We are dedicated to sharing information to educate those interested in learning about the Karelian Bear Dog, a rare Finnish breed, and the unfortunate situation that exists here, in the United States and Canada . Many KBD'S in Canada and the U.S. called purebred, by their owners, are actually crosses of the Karelian Bear Dog and Russo- European-Laika. It happened innocently enough in the beginning, when a breeder imported some REL, and registered them as Karelian Bear Dogs with the Universal Kennel Club. If you do your research, “Universal” is NOT recognized by the American Kennel Club, the Canadian Kennel Club or any FCI country’s kennel clubs. These two breeds both originate from the Finnish/Russian border area, from the ancient Komi dog of that region. Having been developed as individual breeds in their respective countries for generations, the Russo-European Laika was crosses with another Laika breed in it's development. The KBD was never crossed with another breed. The greatest similarity today is in their color. Both are striking black and white, although the REL can be white with black markings, or black with white markings, or even shades of grey, while the KBD standard is black with white markings only on the head, chest, neck and feet, as well as the tip of the tail. No other colours are acceptable. Each is recognized as an individual breed in all FCI countries, with it's own breed standard (KBD breed standard). It is only in the United States and Canada that some breeders insist that they are interchangeable. Why would these breeders be right and the rest of the world be wrong? Of course these breeders are not right, but having sold many puppies to families as "purebred", they refuse to back down, even today, when the KBD has been accepted into the American Kennel Club Foundation Stock Services, and they cannot record their dogs, because they are not PUREBRED. The United Kennel Club is the only U.S. kennel club accepted by the AKC, and United recognizes the purebred Karelian. The Canadian Kennel Club recognizes the KBD and what the breeders of the mixes in Canada , who register their dogs with Universal Kennel Club, fail to realize is that under the Animal Pedigree Act, it is illegal for someone to claim a dog to be “Purebred” unless it is registered or eligible to be registered with the Canadian Kennel Club. Before buying a puppy, everyone has the right to know what they are buying. Do your research. If you live in Canada , ensure that your new puppy is registered with the Canadian Kennel Club. If you live in the US , ensure your puppy is registered with the United Kennel Club and/or with the American Kennel Club Foundation Stock. No matter where you live, be wary of a breeder who does not ask anything about you and your reasons for wishing to own a Karelian, be wary of any breeder who just asks for a deposit and does not offer any information on the breed, make sure to ask to see pedigrees and ask for help reading that pedigree. It may not matter to some whether or not their dog is a cross of these two breeds, but everyone has the right to know the facts before they make their decision. No one deserves to be be misled or lied to, or even innocently misinformed. Recently, some breeders have added a purebred stud or bitch to their breeding stock, advertising them as such, but deliberately omitting that they are breeding with a REL/KBD cross. Please go to www.karelianbeardogclubofamerica.com for the breed standards for both breeds and links to breeders of purebreds in Canada , the US and European countries, along with other useful information. Below is an article in the Vapaa Sanna, the largest Finnish/English newspaper in North America. Our Runningbeardog's Kesa is featured in the top picture. The bottom right picture is of my friend Anna and her KBD. The article includes information about the KBD breed and also a warning about the KBD/Russo-European Laika crosses in North America. |
| A Lesson learned.... Sadly we were misled, as may still are today.. After years of research about the KBD, in 2000 we decided it was time to add one to our family. There wasn't alot of information available on the internet at that time, nor many breeders. We found maybe two or three that we were able to research, one in Canada and the others in the U.S. All of the breeders appeared to have dogs that were related, but from what we understood at the time, not many KBD's had been imported to North America. In November of 2000, our Sielu (scroll down to see pictures) came to us as an 8 week old pup, and was represented as a Karelian Bear Dog. He was a little ball of fur, and only 8 pounds when he got here, so small but such a tiger. Even as young pup, he had a very aggressive temperament and at 6 months old we had him neutered, which is supposed to help with overly aggressive dogs, also knowing we would never have bred a dog with his temperament. His aggression worsened considerably after he developed siezures at about 1 1/2 years old. He could be loving at one moment and in the next turn on you and attack. Sielu was 4 years old when we had to make the hard decision. His aggression had gotten so bad that we couldn't trust him, even with us, much less risk him hurting anyone else. In spite of it all, we loved him, and it was the hardest decision we ever had to make. Our research had told us that the KBD was not supposed to be human aggressive, so we began looking elsewhere when considering adding a second KBD to our family. We still didn't know that Sielu wasn't a purebred when we got our Kukka in 2001, our first KBD directly from European (Danish) parents. We knew nothing about the crosses at that time. Upon examining Kukka, our vet said that Kukka and Sielu were like two different breeds, body structure was different as night and day. We had seen it as soon as Kukka arrived, even though she was only a pup, but we attributed it to possibly bad breeding for Sielu, as well as his health issues. He weighed 35 pounds, tops, and Kukka outweighed him by a good 10 pounds within a year. Temperament was also night and day different. That's when we aggressively began researching his pedigree and spoke with many reputable European breeders. We eventually discovered, by tracking his pedigree back, that he had alot of Russo-European Laika (REL) in him. The REL is a distinct and separate breed in all FCI countries. Third generation back included dogs that came directly from Russia, recorded at birth as Russo-European Laikas. Note the difference in the head, ears, mask (rings around the eyes), a Laika characteristic not found in the KBD, as well as slighter bone and body structure. In the development of the REL in Russia, they were crossed with another Russian Laika breed. The Finns never crossed the KBD with any other breed in their development. |
| Sielu, a REL/KBD cross |
| Kukka, a purebred KBD |
| Sielu REL/KBD Cross |
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